heard of damage to auto trans due to catalytic converter's heat affecting it?

The dealer's service center told me that! This is a car with 30K miles on it, I cannot understand. Granted that I am second owner, so I don't know what first owner may have done to car, but still difficult to swallow.

Hello, the hard part: any factory warranty coverage has long since expired regardless of cause. Is the service department saying that you have a missing heat shield? Still it would not hurt to escalate your concern to Mazda and see if you can get help.

The Mazda service staff said that her technicians told that 2012s have a design problem because the catalytic converter is too close to the gear box and that causes the premature deterioration. Beats me!

If it was me, I'd contact Mazda and kick and scream until I got help. You may get some assistance.

:)